Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

RDOF – Bridging together the Digital Divide in Rural and Sub-urban Areas in USA

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognizing the large digital "flaw" in rural USA has proposed the establishment of a federal funding program called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Offering at least $20.4 billion over a ten-year period FCC will support more than 20 million households and small businesses that lack high-speed broadband networks. The program is planned for implementation upon expiration of the Connect America Fund phase II (CAF-2) program in 2021, thus RDOF is also informally known as CAF-3.

Location Eligibility

Areas that are considered eligible are those that completely lack access to adequate broadband service, which is defined by the FCC as 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream (25/3). Based on this, FCC has deemed almost 6 million locations eligible for Phase I of the RDOF auction. Learn more about the eligible areas here.

Schedule

This once in a generation program will be carried out in two phases.

Phase I

Phase I will provide $16 billion so as to support rural homes and businesses that are wholly unserved and is planned to be completed by the end of the year.

What is included?

  • Initial strategic meeting & discussion
  • Feasibility study, including a complete business plan
  • Strategic development, including a thorough plan for each member cooperative complete with tailored & competitive bid strategies
  • RDOF informational webinars every month
  • RDOF white papers, FCC actions & rulings, key auction details, and insights into RDOF strategies
  • Eligible Areas Maps
  • Monthly action item updates and benchmarks

Phase II

Phase II, will provide $4.4 billion (plus the remaining Phase I budget) aiming at encouraging those areas that are partially served, as well as any areas that have not won in Phase I.

What is included?

  • Phase II members will have full access to all consortium expertise from strategic planning up to the auction, award, and long-form application processes.

You can view the FCC RDOF Fact Sheet and Guidelines by clicking here

Intracom Telecom Solutions for RDOF

Intracom Telecom RDOF solutions can help you claim Gigabit Tier eligibility with our FWA platforms

Access

Transmission

Network Lifecycle Management

Broadband Buildout Requirements

The RDOF program carries build out requirements over a six-year period. Let's simplify it:

  • By the 3rd year recipients are requires to commercially offer voice & broadband service to 40% of the FCC calculated number of locations in a state following funding authorization
  • 20% for each year thereafter
  • By the 6th year there should be 100% completion

The service provider may have more time to build out in the special occasion where the actual locations greatly surpass the FCC model.

Contact us for assistance

Conklin-Intracom

3885 Crestwood Parkway, Suite 100
Duluth, GA 30096

Tel.: +1 770.295.2500

Emails

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